


The Prodigal Daughter Returns

by storm_8



Series: Joys of Motherhood [28]
Category: Women's Murder Club (TV)
Genre: F/F, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-18
Updated: 2013-06-18
Packaged: 2017-12-15 09:17:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/847852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storm_8/pseuds/storm_8
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being away for 10 or so years, Ashley returns home.<br/>Lily pops by for a visit and see her sister again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Prodigal Daughter Returns

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own the show or its characters. I merely borrow them for everyone's enjoyment.  
> I do own the original characters: I am quite fond of them!  
> All mistakes are mine.
> 
> This one is a look into the future, where after spending 10 or so years away, Ashley returns to San Francisco.

Ashley had been munching on some salted peanuts when the ‘Fasten Seatbelt’ sign came on, followed immediately by some turbulence. She nearly chocked on her peanuts.

 

“Ladies and Gentlemen…” Came the pilot’s voice over the speakers. “We’ll be experiencing some turbulence in our approach to San Francisco International Airport…” The plane shook violently. The brunette rolled her eyes at the understatement and quickly finished her coke before it went flying. “…Please fasten your seatbelts…”

 

The baby next to her started crying at being awoken from his sleep and the wailing only got worse every time the plane shook. The mother gave her an apologetic look and tried calming her son, but the little boy would have none of it.

 

Ashley reached out a hand and took one of the baby’s hands in her own. He calmed somewhat and looked curiously at her. The brunette grinned and tickled him. He started giggling and grabbed one of her fingers.

 

“How did you do that?” The mother asked, impressed.

 

“I have no idea, honestly. Babies just tend to like me for some reason…”

 

“You have any children of your own?” The woman settled her son on her lap, as he continued to stare curiously at the woman sitting next to his mother.

 

Ashley’s eyes widened and she laughed. “Ah no. My mother would have a fit. She says she’s not old enough yet to be a grandmother…”

 

The other woman chuckled.

 

******

 

15-year-old Tyler was restless, practically bouncing up and down in his seat, as his aunt drove them to the airport; he couldn’t wait to see his cousin again.

 

“Ty, would you settle down?” Lindsay asked from the driver’s seat, chuckling at the boy’s wide grin.

 

“Ash is coming home!” He said excitedly. “And she’s staying here for good!”

 

The brunette could relate with her nephew’s enthusiasm. It had been a good ten years since she’d seen her eldest daughter for an extended period of time. And the few times she had, the younger Boxer only stayed for a week, two at most, or they were working a case together. And those times normally involved a serial killer or some other equally deranged criminal.

 

“I bet she also promised to bring gifts…” Lindsay commented.

 

Tyler grinned. “She’s bringing gifts for you. And for aunt Cindy. It’s only fair I get a gift too!”

 

“Your mother has been teaching you some more lawyer logic again, hasn’t she?”

 

“You have no evidentiary support that gives any probable cause for that accusation.” He said cheekily. Lindsay blinked a few times and then shook her head in dismay, focusing on the road, instead of even trying to come up with a retort.

 

******

 

Ashley and the other airplane passengers let out a collective sigh of relief once the aircraft rolled to a halt next to the gate after those very bumpy last fifteen minutes of flight.

 

She unbuckled her seatbelt and stretched her legs as far as the cramped space would allow. The baby boy next to her was wide-awake and looked curiously around at all the grumbling and moving passengers.

 

After a good 10 minutes of waiting, Ashley was finally able to get to her feet and retrieve her backpack from the locker above her head. She was ready to move out when she noticed that the woman that had been sitting next to her was having some trouble gathering all her belongings.

 

“Do you want me to give you a hand?” She inquired.

 

“Would you mind?” The woman seemed relieved.

 

“No, not at all.” She shouldered her backpack and grabbed one of the woman’s three bags.

 

The baby was still in the seat and watching the proceedings with interest. He then decided to make his own interests known and raised his arms up, wanting the brunette woman to carry him.

 

The mother chuckled. “He seems to like you…” She commented. “Do you want to carry him?”

 

“You don’t mind a total stranger carrying your child?” The brunette raised an eyebrow, but settled the woman’s bag more securely so she could take the boy in her arms.

 

“He is a very good judge of character. You should see what he did the time one of my sisters-in-law came to visit. She won’t be setting foot in the house anytime soon…” The mother replied with a chuckle.

 

Ashley glanced at the boy happily settled in her arms, finding it hard to believe that such a cute little person could scare anyone away. “A cute little thing like you scared a grown woman away?” She cooed. The boy giggled and grabbed at her hair. She laughed and walked down the aisle to the exit, the baby’s mother following and laughing as well.

 

******

 

“Tyler, stay close. We don’t want you getting lost…” Lindsay warned, steering her excited nephew through the crowd.

 

“Do you think she has arrived yet?” He asked, craning his neck to peek around the people filling up the airport arrivals area.

 

The brunette glanced up at the announcement boards and saw that her daughter’s flight had landed about 10 minutes prior. “Yeah, the plane’s arrived. Now we have to wait for her to get her luggage and find her in this ocean of people.” She grumbled.

 

The dark haired boy chuckled. “Don’t worry. She’s taller than you. She’ll definitely see us… If not, you can always shout for people to get out of the way, because you’re Homicide Lieutenant…”

 

Lindsay gave her nephew an amused glare at his cheeky comment.

 

******

 

Ashley waited and waited for her luggage, while making light conversation with Allison and still holding little Jason.

 

“…And every time my sister-in-law would take a step back, he would stop crying. She’d reach out again and the crying started again. So she decided I was a bad mother, because I wasn’t caring for him properly…”

 

“Since he was always kicking and screaming when she came around.”

 

The mother nodded and laughed. “I honestly don’t know what my brother sees in that woman…”

 

“Maybe he’ll take little Jason’s advice…” Ashley commented, tickling the boy’s belly. He grabbed her ear and nose, making happy noises.

 

The two women laughed, which only amused the boy further.

 

Suddenly there was a commotion among the waiting passengers. Ashley glanced around, spotting the source of the crowd’s agitation, a man in his late 30s arguing heatedly with a customs officer. An armed police officer walked up and tried to diffuse the situation, but the man only became more aggravated.

 

The people gathered around the few conveyer belts operating had completely forgotten about their luggage and watched the scene unfold.

 

Then the situation went from bad to worse, when the man physically attacked the police officer with a pocketknife and then took one of his guns and made a run for the exit.

 

People gasped and screamed. Ashley cursed, handed Allison her son and told her to stay put. She took her gun out of her backpack and ran after him.

 

******

 

Lindsay had been trying to make her way around the crowd with Tyler in tow, when two shots rang out and the glass door leading out of the baggage reclaim area exploded outward, glass flying everywhere. She dove to the ground dragging the teenager with her and covered her head with her arms, the other people around doing the same.

 

Screams and shouts broke out around them and several security officers rushed to the area. They had to duck for cover when bullets flew through the shattered doors and whizzed past their heads.

 

Whispering to Tyler he should stay down, Lindsay unholstered her gun and raised her head to take in the situation, when she saw the shooter come running through the doors, shouts for him to stop following in his wake.

 

She was about to make her presence known and order him to stop, when Ashley burst through the doors as well, chasing after the man.

 

More officers came through the door and more shouting for him to stop followed.

 

Lindsay watched with a certain amount of shock as the shooter jumped over a row of seats, turned midair and started shooting at his pursuers, all of them scrambling for cover except for one.

 

Ashley somersaulted over the row of chairs, barely avoiding the line of fire, and collided with the shooter midair, sending them both crashing to the ground, their guns flying out of their hands.

 

The brunette rose to her hands and knees and panted hard, the impact having knocked the air out of her. She almost didn’t register the glimmer of light flashing off the man’s pocketknife before it was swiped at her head.

 

She yelped, rolling on the floor and then kicked out with her legs, hitting her attacker in the arm and unbalancing him. She rose to her feet, the man doing the same, knife poised to attack.

 

Several security officers surrounded them, guns aimed at the shooter.

 

“Drop the weapon and get on your knees!” One of them ordered.

 

Ashley saw his eyes flash to the people around them and then land back on her.

 

“Don’t do it.” She warned “Don’t-”

 

He lunged at her. She ducked as he made a swipe at her head and then had to block with her left arm when he kicked out with one leg. She rose back up, spun around when he lashed out again and elbowed him hard in his solar plexus.

 

The force of the impact knocked the wind out of him and made him drop his knife. Three officers rushed forward to immobilize and arrest him, while two others came to her, demanding she identify herself.

 

Lindsay broke through the commotion, flashing her badge. “Step away from her, she’s one of my inspectors!”

 

One of them turned to her. “Lindsay?”

 

“Oh, hey Steve.” She greeted, recognizing him. “Nice mess you have here…” She said with a grin.

 

He looked around, his officers moving through the crowd making sure there were no casualties and sighed. “We got an alert from one of the customs officers saying there was a problem. But he didn’t say anything about this guy being armed…”

 

“He wasn’t.” Ashley provided, joining in on the conversation. “He attacked one of your officers and took his gun.”

 

“And you ran after him?” Steve asked.

 

“Well, yes. It’s in my job description… You know, protect and serve?”

 

Lindsay chuckled. “You just tried to arrest my daughter, Steve.”

 

He gaped. “Wha-? Seriously?” He glanced between the two brunettes, finally noticing the similarities. Then he chuckled. “I thought I recognized the chasing style…”

 

Lindsay huffed. “Well, you got this covered now… After all the hard work was done by someone else… So, let’s get going.” She directed at her daughter. The man saluted and left to try and create some order out of the chaos.

 

Ashley grinned and enveloped her mother in a hug. “Hey mom! Great to see you! Even if you have more grey hair than I remember…”

 

The older woman slapped her daughter over the head but returned the hug, chuckling in amusement.

 

“I have the coolest cousin _ever_!” Tyler exclaimed, interrupting the mother-daughter reunion.

 

Ashley released her mother. “Hey, little man!” They high-fived and the boy launched himself into the brunette’s waiting arms.

 

“That was totally cool! You have to teach me those moves…” He said when they separated. He punched her twice in the arm and then adopted a defensive position. Ashley chuckled and ruffled his dark hair.

 

“Let’s get going. Jill is going to kill me when she hears about this…” Lindsay waved at the commotion still around them.

 

“Eh, mom will kill _me_ …” Ashley added, as they disappeared into the crowd to get the brunette’s belongings.

 

******

 

It took them another half hour until they could leave the airport. Ashley had to give a statement, one of the officers returned her gun, she wanted to make sure Allison and little Jason were unharmed and then she still had to find her luggage.

 

She made her way through the people milling around the still moving conveyer belt, trying to find the woman and her child. “Allison?”

 

The woman spun around and sighed in relief when she recognized who it was. “Ashley! Why did you run off like that? The man was armed!”

 

“I uhh… Didn’t I tell you? I’m a police inspector. I just transferred to the SFPD, actually…”

 

The woman was surprised. “Well, that explains the gun…”

 

“Yeah… I’m sorry if I scared you. I just wanted to make sure you were okay…”

 

Jason whined and held out his arms. Ashley chuckled and took him in her arms. “Make sure both of you were fine…” She amended. “And get my luggage.”

 

Allison chuckled at her son’s actions. “He really does like you…”

 

The brunette grinned and handed the boy back to his mother, tickling him again and watching amused as he giggled and buried his face in the woman’s neck.

 

They said their goodbyes, Ashley grabbing her luggage and leaving to rejoin her mother and Tyler.

 

******

 

The journey home was filled with Tyler’s excited chatter. He told his cousin all about his mothers’ and aunts’ mischiefs (Lindsay denied everything) and about Lily’s last visit.

 

However, they hadn’t been in Lindsay and Cindy’s house for five minutes, when the front door was swung open with a bang and said redhead and Jill were yelling Lindsay’s name with threatening intent.

 

The Homicide Lieutenant, used to dealing with the most horrendous criminals in the city, visibly flinched. Tyler laughed and hid behind his cousin.

 

Once they set eyes on the brunette, both women went into a rant about dangerous situations, children and guns and generally admonished Lindsay for her carelessness.

 

Denise and Claire stepped into the house a few moments later and tried reasoning with the two angry mothers. But it was futile. Until Ashley spoke up.

 

“Humm, mom? Technically mom didn’t do anything… I was the one chasing the suspect and-” She was cut off mid explanation, Cindy wrapping her up in a bear hug. Lindsay sighed in relief.

 

“You are far worse than your mother!” Cindy hissed, hitting her grinning daughter on the shoulder and hugging her again.

 

More hugs and greetings were exchanged and once all that was settled, Cindy turned her heated glare on her eldest daughter and Jill did the same with Lindsay. Both brunettes sighed in dismay and readied themselves for a very long round of admonishing.

 

Claire, Denise and Tyler retreated to the kitchen.

 

“Better let them blow off some steam…” Claire commented with a chuckle.

 

“But it was so cool aunt Claire! She flipped over the benches…” He gesticulated wildly, hopping around the kitchen “…Tackled the guy mid air, then had to duck from the knife…” He dropped to the ground imitating Ashley’s moves. “And then hit him hard.” He punched the air a few times for emphasis and then grinned widely. “It was totally awes-”

 

He stopped when his mother glared and raised an eyebrow, hands on her hips.

 

He giggled sheepishly, turned very serious and cleared his throat. “It was a very dangerous situation and they are to be left to the people who know how to deal with them.” He glanced at his mother with wide eyes and a pout, hoping she wasn’t angry.

 

Claire chuckled, Denise glaring some more but then smirking. “It was really impressive…” She said, while the admonishing continued in the living room.

 


	2. Family Reunion

Cindy Thomas took pride in her excellent cooking skills and in her family’s recipes. She liked taking her time preparing them and took special care with all the ingredients used. So she was not happy when a sudden excited shout of victory coming from outside broke her concentration and made her drop a spoon in the sauce she’d been preparing.

 

Claire looked up from her friend’s recipe book to look out the kitchen window, seeing Tyler jumping up and down in obvious joy and doing a little victory dance around his eldest cousin. She chuckled, while Cindy grumbled and fished the lost spoon out of the pot and dumped it in the sink.

 

“You’d think they’d be tired by now. They’ve been at it all afternoon…” The redhead commented, getting another spoon out of a drawer.

 

“Let them have their fun… Once Ash starts working, and if she’s anything like Lindsay, there is no way you’ll get her to leave the Hall until the criminals are all behind bars…”

 

“You have a point there…” Cindy conceded, watching her daughter throw the ball over Tyler’s head towards the basketball net hanging over the garage door. She started chuckling when the scowling boy started chasing the highly amused brunette down the driveway and back.

 

*****

 

“That is not fair!! You can’t throw the ball over my head!!” The dark haired boy argued, running after his laughing cousin.

 

Ashley dodged and ducked the teenager’s attempts at grabbing her. “Of course I can. There’s no rule against that…”

 

Tyler finally managed to latch onto his cousin’s back and hit the brunette playfully in the head. “You promised you wouldn’t do that!” He jumped up and locked his legs around the woman’s waist.

 

Ashley laughed, reaching back with her arms and supporting his weight. “Don’t you think you’re too old for piggy back rides?”

 

“Nope!” He answered, grinning. “You’re really tall. I can see the whole neighbourhood from up here…” he said cheekily.

 

“That is highly exaggerated…”

 

“Hey, look! That’s mom’s car.” The boy pointed an arm down the street. Ashley turned slightly to look in the direction he was pointing.

 

Tyler waved, the car coming to a halt behind Claire’s car. Jill exited first, Denise following suit and locking the car.

 

“Hi moms!”

 

“Tyler, what are you doing to your poor cousin?” The blonde asked, walking up the driveway.

 

“Me? Nothing… I’m just enjoying the view from up here…” He said airily, Ashley giving him a cross look over her shoulder.

 

“Humm, Boxer women are known for having long legs…” Jill conceded, nodding to herself.

 

“As opposed to the Bernhardt bloodline, you mean? You’re all short…” Ashley retorted, smirking.

 

Jill huffed in annoyance and Tyler frowned.

 

“You set yourselves up for that one…” Denise shook her head and continued up the driveway to the front door, giving Ashley an amused grin.

 

******

 

Claire opened the door to let the two women in. They hung up their jackets and followed the M.E. into the kitchen, where Cindy was still puttering over pots and pans.

 

“Lindsay’s not back yet?”  Jill inquired taking a peek into one of the pots on the stove. “Smells good…”

 

Cindy grinned. “I know. My grandmother’s recipe. And no… Lily’s flight was delayed for two hours. She called to let us know; grumbled about idiotic airport personnel too…”

 

“I’m sure she used a much more graphic set of words…” Denise stated, accepting a glass of wine from Claire.

 

“I had to send Tyler out of the living room…” The reporter replied. “But she’s been up since yesterday afternoon, because of an emergency at the hospital, so I won’t blame her for the very colourful commentary she provided…”

 

The other three women chuckled.

 

A very loud “ASH!! Stop doing that!!” had all four women looking out the kitchen window. Tyler was jumping as high as he could, Ashley holding the basketball just out of his reach. She grinned, and without even looking, threw the ball over her shoulder. It hit the backboard dead center, before falling through the net.

 

The boy scowled and tried tackling the brunette to the ground, all the while complaining about his cousin’s lack of fair play.

 

******

 

Lily sighed loudly, making her way out of the baggage reclaim area. She twisted her neck around, grimacing at the loud pops the movement caused. She raised an eyebrow when she noticed a security officer directing the leaving passengers through a different set of doors than usual. The other eyebrow lifted to join its twin as she saw what seemed to be bullet holes in the wall next to the non-operational automatic doors that were taped off and blocked by large plastic covers.

 

“What in the world happened here?” She asked herself, as she exited into the crowd filling the arrivals area.

 

“Your sister chasing an armed suspect happened…” Came from somewhere on her left.

 

Lily twisted around and grinned widely enveloping her mother in a hug. “Mom! Hi! Good to see you again! With more grey hair too…” She added cheekily.

 

Lindsay scowled. “You and your sister have no respect for your elders…” She grumbled.

 

“Elders? So, you admit you _are_ old…” She got a swat on the arm for her comment. “But did you say Ash was chasing someone in the airport?”

 

“Humm… This man attacked one of the airport security officers and came running through those doors…” Lindsay motioned with her head at the plastic covered exit. “He nearly shot several other security officers and then attacked your sister with a pocket knife when she managed to tackle him to the ground…”

 

Lily’s eyes widened comically.

 

“Which is why Jill has prohibited me from bringing Tyler to the airport and your mother did the same to your sister, claiming that trouble follows her everywhere and she doesn’t need more worries to keep her up at night…”

 

The redhead chuckled. “I bet she would have grounded Ash as well, just for the heck of it…”

 

They walked to Lindsay’s car, discussing some of the plans Lily had for her two-week vacation with her family.

 

******

 

“You are so going to lose…” Tyler said, dribbling the ball, Ashley adopting a defensive posture, trying to guess what the boy was going to do.

 

“I don’t think so, little man. You have to go through me first…” The brunette retorted, taking a step forward.

 

The teenager rushed forward, turning his back on his cousin, protecting the ball with his body, and trying to dribble past her. They pushed and shoved each other a few times, Ashley blocking all of Tyler’s attempts to get past her. Until the honking of a horn distracted her long enough for him to duck under her arm and run to the net to score another two points, and making him the game’s winner.

 

“Yeah!!” He exclaimed, blowing a raspberry at his cousin. “Told you, you were going to lose!!”

 

“That wasn’t fair! The car horn distracted me!” She argued only halfheartedly, chuckling at the boy’s victory dance.

 

“That is one lame excuse, if I’ve ever heard one. You’re loosing your touch…”

 

“Lily!” Tyler exclaimed, forgetting all about his victory and rushing into the redhead’s open arms. “You’re finally here! And Ash is back for good! It’s totally cool!”

 

Lily chuckled at the boy’s enthusiasm. “Yes, it is cool… But you know I’m only staying for two weeks, right?” She ruffled his dark hair.

 

He nodded. “I know, but it’s still cool!”

 

“Ty, why don’t you go help your aunt with Lily’s luggage so I can say ‘Hello’ to my sister?”

 

He smirked. “Say ‘Hello’ all you want… You’re still the loser!” He exclaimed and scampered away. Ashley huffed, half annoyed, half amused.

 

“There, there, your poor ego…” Lily joked.

 

Her sister grinned and pulled her into a hug. “Ego’s just fine… I’ll survive…”

 

The redhead tightened her grip on the brunette. “I missed you…” She whispered.

 

Ashley smiled. “Missed you too, Lil.” She pulled back slightly so she could look her sister in the eye. “But you look like you’ve been up for a week…”

 

“It does feel like that… Remind me again why I thought I wanted to be a doctor…”

 

“Because you have better common sense than Ashley. Better being a doctor, than getting shot at every other day of the week!” Cindy called from the doorway.

 

“Mom!!” Ashley exclaimed indignantly. “I don’t get shot at that often!”

 

“I don’t know about that… I just saw the mess you left at the airport not three days ago…” Lily grinned and jogged to the front door to hug her redhead mother and aunts.

 

“What mess?! It was the guy with the gun, shooting at everyone in the vicinity that made the mess!” The brunette defended herself but no one was really listening anymore. She huffed and glared in typical Boxer fashion.


End file.
